Now, this post has a serious title, but it’s going to be a lot funnier than my previous, recent posts. (Besides the one about Italy and the US. That was pretty funny 😄😂). Today my post is going to be a blend of family time, some beach stuff, and Italian card games. Wierd mix, yet awesome story…let’s begin!

So, in these past days, waves have begun to arrive to shore. The only problem with this is that they are very big, and our shore is quite rocky, which makes it dangerous to be in the water with those waves. So, since we are in Puglia to go to the beach, these waves just eliminated our beach time. So what are we left with? A: Cards and board games.

I have never really played an American card game. My whole life I have been playing games like Scopa, Briscola, Tre Sette, Burraco, Pinnacolo, and UNO. (Sorry for the disgrace my fellow Americans)! Well, anyway, the reason why I play so many Italian card games is, one, I really like playing games that my mom is good at and likes, and two, these games are really competitive and it takes some strategy to play them, and I like both strategy and competition (especially with my parents). Yesterday, mom taught us (me, my brother, my dad, and my sister) how to play Briscola in five (Briscola in cinque). After a few rounds, the newly taught players were very eager to play a lot more than a few rounds, these we went to bet in the morning instead of at night! But we all loved the game, and that was what counted! (Even if some of us were dead tired when we woke up). But for us kids, a good round is not enough, so guess what we did today? We played Briscola in 5 for over an hour, and man it was fun! I love how anywhere we go, our family can be together. I also love the fact that our family has time for one another, that we are almost always capable of spending time in one another’s presence. And that leads me to my next thought…

I was reflecting on the topic “the family” today. I was thinking about it because my mom had just happened to start talking about how she was so happy that our family could have time together almost whenever we wanted. So, as I normally do, I went to search some quotes about families, and here are some quotes that I found…

“Family is like music, some high notes, some low notes, but always a beautiful song.” – Author Unknown

“Family: They drive you crazy. They drive you nuts. They drive you loony. But…they drive you.” – GatheredAgain.com

I love these quotes because they perfectly describe our family: happy, sad, angry, joyful, etc. I also love these quotes because they tell us that families are not perfect. They don’t always make perfect desicions or don’t always have the best of days, but they are still a family, and I love that teaching. Sometimes, I think, that we expect our family members to be perfect human beings and never to make mistakes. I think sometimes we need that reminder. I hope that we all can remember to love our family members and remember that they are not perfect, and we can’t make them that way. All we can do is love them and show them that we care. Yes, sometimes we get angry and upset, but we can always ask forgiveness for our wrongs. I am not perfect, but writing about this is helping me overcome my blocks and unkindness towards my family. I hope that we can all do the same.

Just a side note, in the comments below, I would really appreciate it if you would tell me if you like it when I post these kind of things like topics about hope, family, and vulnerability. I am asking this from you guys because I am still kind of am figuring out what I mainly want to wright about in this blog. Your help would be extremely appreciated! 😀

Have you ever had one of those days where you really regret something you did, and you can’t stop thinking about it? Or have you ever been through something really hard, like the loss of a friend or family member, and are not willing to let go of this horrible thing? Well, sometimes, I go through this kind of stuff and feel the same way, but I have recently learned about a couple of things that have changed my way of thinking and my way of living…I learned anout hope and moving on. I learned that if we hold on to the past, we don’t have a lot of time, room, or want to grow and have a successful, happy future. I really like to read quotes that inspire me to change my life, so today, I did a random search for inspirational quotes about hope…here is what I found…

After I read these images, I felt moved by how most of these quotes referred to hope as moving on with faith, not knowing what’s going to come later. So then I did a search that went something like: inspirational quotes about moving on from hardship. (Now that I think about what I searched, it sounds like I need therapy, because I searched “moving on from hardship” 😅). Well, anyway, my results came out pretty well, I got some pretty great results…

Well, in conclusion, I want to say that I learned some pretty great things about moving forward and hope. It was just a thought, but I wanted to share it with you. I hope you liked the quotes, and I hope that what I shared was somewhat meaningful to you. I know that we don’t need to look behind, but we need to look forward with hope and faith, having trust in God that good things will come after our difficulties and hardships. All we have to do is believe in ourselves and trust in ourselves and it doesn’t take magic, it takes heart and mind and spirit. It takes will, you need to want to achieve your dreams and desires. No one wants to feel sad for the rest of their lives because your best friend punched you in third grade or because you got a B- in your math test. Moving forward with hope is one of the many answers.

You must be wondering what vulnerability has to do with the featured image. By the end of this post you will…

Today, by watching a few videos by Brené Brown, I learned about vulnerability. Now, this is not my strength, so I am deciding to dig into learning on what it is and what I can do to help myself become vulnerable and help myself feel connection to people such as family and friends.

Vulnerability is when you open yourself and allow people to see who you really are. You don’t have to put a mask on that matches every other persons way of doing and living. Vulnerability means to accept who we are, accept that we can feel, and open up to administer and feel love, connection, courage, belonging, etc. But vulnerability is not just allowing yourself to feel and administer good feelings, it also allows you to feel shame, fear, hate, sadness, and more. But feeling these feelings doesn’t mean we should hold on to them. We shouldn’t lock away our feelings just because we are afraid that others see them, we should feel them, accept that we feel them, and allow ourselves to think “maybe that person is doing the best they can” or “maybe he or she is just having a bad day, or have something tough going on in there lives. Maybe it’s time for me to stop being the victim and allow myself to feel some empathy for this person.” I’m not a perfect human being, and I’m not saying this to point my finger at people that are not super strong in this area. I know that I don’t get all As on this either, but I know that there is always room for growth, and that I can make my weakness become my strength. We all can, if we really want to. If we try to “numb” feelings of shame, hate, sadness, heartbreak, fear, or other feelings that we all are uncomfortable with people seeing, we are numbing everything. This is because without hate you cant feel love, without sadness and heartbreak, you can’t feel joy or happiness, and when we numb everything we can’t feel. And that is dangerous. These kind of situations can lead to addiction and from there to more dangerous things that can ruin our spiritual and mortal selves. Do we really want that? Do we want to ruin our amazing potential on this earth, the potential to grow and become who we most desire to be? I know that I don’t want to. I want to live for all time and eternity knowing that I did my best to become vulnerable, successful, loving, compassionate, etc.

WE

CAN

BECOME

VULNERABLE!

I know that if you say this to yourself it can become a reality in your life and in the life of others. All it takes is to open up. “Vulnerability is not about weakness. It’s about showing up and being seen.” -Brené Brown

I know the key to become empathetic, kind, submissive, full of love, compassionate, and open, is to work towards vulnerability. If we all did that, this a lot more of us would stop worrying about what other people think or what other people say, but instead we will start becoming more interested in people and with what they feel and how they are doing, and a lot can go around with one simple, yet real smile or a tight, loving embrace. Do you now understand the connection between vulnerability and the featured image above?

Here are the videos that I watched from Brené Brown. I would invite you to watch them, they are really true and inspiring!

The “pure-ness” of Italy. Italy is important to me beacause of their good way of cooking, their pure mountain water (it tastes different than American water), the clean oceans and lakes, the extremely green areas found all over Italy, the beautiful Alps, and so much more. (Not that America doesn’t have some pure-ness either, I just think that Italy is very particular and special about theirs).

The fact that I can be myself in Italy. I can interact with others just as if I were in America. With sincerity and kindness, I don’t have to be nervous around Italians.

5 things that make the U.S. important to me…

The kindness of almost everyone there. I feel as if America has some AMAZING costumer service, waiters, police officers, people in general, etc. (Not to say that Italy doesn’t have nice people either).

The fact that jobs are so easy to get there, and that everyone has the possibility to do what they love most, from being a photographer to starting a cooking show.

The fact that moving around, visiting family, our just visiting a famous place is easy and flexible. (In Itlay you have to pay to go on certain roads, in America, it’s all free).

GREAT school environments and, almost always, really safe neighborhoods.

The high popularity of sports, and the importance of playing them in school, or as an extracurricular activity. I love sports, and it makes me kind of sad that Italy doesn’t have the option to do a lot of sports while in school.

3 things that make me proud to be Italian…

Their driving. I LOVE IT when Italians (like my mom) drive. They drive with less caution than any other country, they know how to drive! They know when to speed or when to slow down, when to keep the speed limit carefully, and when or when not to pass other cars. (If you ever get the chance, have an Italian drive in Italy for you. You will NEVER regret the experience)!

The small towns and historical sights. Since so much happened in Italy during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and other important time periods, Italy has a lot of ruins and beautiful remains of some amazing pieces of artwork and construction. I feel proud to be part of a country with so much history!

Italy has their own particular culture and way of living. I like how their culture demonstrates that. I also like how most Italians are proud to be Italians.

3 things that make me feel proud to be an American…

The architectural design of homes. I like the design of U.S. buildings in general. I love their use of stone, color, and other materials that make U.S. homes beautiful.

I feel proud to be an American because the United States was where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was founded and restored. I feel proud to be in a country where that church is widely known.

I feel proud to be an American because it was in the U.S. that some of the major things that are now used throughout the world were invented. I feel proud to live in a country where people have such great minds and are able to create such amazing things.

I love being Italian-American. I love that I can call not one, but two countries “mine”. I give a special thank you out to my mom for teaching me the Italian language at a young age and thank you to both my parents for giving us this experience here in Italy, it is such a blessing. Thank you to my Italian teachers that I had here in fifth grade and to my nonna having the patience with me to help me understand and help me get better in writing and reading in Italian. And a HUGE SHOUT OUT to my awesome brothers and sisters for dutifully striving to learn Italian even if they don’t have a lot of experience with the language.

“If you want to live a more exciting life, become a more powerful person.” -Eric Worre

“To many people learn to function in their disfunction. Declare war on your comfort zone!” -Darren Hardy

“If you haven’t achieved your dreams, it’s your fault.” -Darren Hardy

“You don’t get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.” -Darren Hardy

“You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance at what you love.” -Jim Carrey

“To achieve the incredible you have to attempt the impossible.” -Darren Hardy

“Change is inevitable, growth is optional.” -Author unknown

“Be what others are afraid to be.” -Darren Hardy

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

“If you are afraid of failing you won’t get very far.” -Steve Jobs

“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.” -Coco Chanel

“Your beliefs are what’s holding you back. It’s time to interrupt the narrator in your mind.” -Darren Hardy

“The success you have tomorrow is predicted by the work you do today.” -Darren Hardy

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” -Babe Ruth

“Success is when what you think, say, and do are the same.” -Darren Hardy

“Success is a result of small, seemingly insignificant moment-to-moment choices that add up to big results.” -Darren Hardy

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What these inspirational people said is true. About success, who we are, and where we need to be. Let us all try to be more powerful people and let us seek for the life of success and happiness that we want in our future. We are here on earth to achieve our greater potential, and we can only do that if we really want it. So who do we really want to be, who are we now, and who do we want to become? What kind of future do we want to create for ourselves?

So, as you know, the sun here can be particularly dangerous during certain hours of the day, beginning from about lunch time and ending at about four pm. Most of the time, I play board games or talk with some US friends. I also like to play volleyball (more like wall ball) by playing against the wall. But when I play with someone we create boundaries with chairs and such things, we also use the rack as a net…

The chair is the side boundary and the little “garden area” is the other.

As I said, the other thing I do in my free time is play board games. Today I played THE SETTLERS OF CATAN and TICKET TO RIDE. We have neighbor’s here that are renting one of my grandpa’s beach homes and they enjoy playing CATAN with us. My sister and I played TICKET TO RIDE with me and we kind of broke the rules. Since the game allows up to five players to play, we decided to have two colors each, just to make the game longer. Well, in the end we both ended up with over three hundred points, which is abnormal. Well, in the middle of us playing, we realized that our trains had made the shape of a heart with nothing in it! It was amazing! Here is a picture…

Also, these hours are perfect for communicating with foreign friends! It’s absolutely perfect, while I’m doing almost nothing, my fellow Americans are waking up! (I could be such a great alarm o’clock for them)! Well, until later!!